Wow what an event! I journeyed to the middle of France with the team for the Bol d’Or Classic in 2010, so for 2011 I knew exactly what to expect; miles and miles of travelling, no sleep, noise, Frenchmen with a hatred for the English, expensive food, neon lights (they love it over there), even less sleep, and fantastic, thrilling, emotional and exciting racing!

It all kicked off at 4am on a Thursday morning, with half the team arriving in Aylesbury to pick-up myself, rider Chris and his wife and rider Rob over in Princes Risborough. Then it was a mad dash to ride the Euro Tunnel and meet the last member of the team. After arriving in Calais I swapped over into Lee’s van (who I like to call the ‘Pervert Undertaker’, you would understand if you met him) we hit the toll roads (madly expensive), eventually   arriving at Magny Cours mid afternoon.

If you have seen the Darvill write-up by Alex (link above), you would have noticed the fun and games the team had trying to get a pit allocated to them. After the success the team had last year, it was starting to become obvious that there was a slight anti-English sentiment emerging!  Myself and   Alan (additional team tog for the event) had tried to sign-on for our press passes on entry, but were told we could not have them until Friday morning. Literally as we were standing there, a French photographer came over for his pass and was handed it there and then! To be honest, I wasn’t mad as the media girl dealing with it all was beautiful, my eyes were on stalks and I could forgive her for anything. As it turned out, you don’t even need a pass because security is so slack anyone could get trackside if they wanted to!

Rob Wittey, Darvill Spondon RSC Honda

The rest of the day was spent scouting for good photo locations. Laden with camera gear, it’s a fairly long and sweaty walk around the circuit. With a slightly jammy leg (motorcycle crash) I can find it a bit tough going, but after a couple of hours I usually get into a stride. My favourite spot at this particular track is bang in the middle on the inside of the 180° (name of the corner, see image left), and therefore the longest to walk to as there is no bridge access! The spot would also be useful for the night race as the sun goes down, the light is coming from just about the right direction.

Day over it was time to hit our beds, or at least after some late night drinks. Myself and Alan were to sleep in the pits with the bikes. I’m the sort of bloke that can sleep anywhere and on anything. Inflatable pillow, check, sleeping bag, check, rock hard floor, check. Happy as Larry I got a few winks, but as to be expected other bikes were being worked on late into the night, so sleep was broken at best. I also discovered I was highly allergic to something in the area and spent the rest of the event bunged up with swollen eyes!

The Sun Sets During the Bol d'Or Classic Night Race

Friday began nice and early at 6am. You can’t beat early mornings when racing. The air is crisp, people and bikes begin to stir and the excitement begins to build. I gathered all my camera gear together so it was all setup and ready. The aim for today was to get my head into shooting mode, test video mode on the 7D and fit the HD onboard cameras to the bike. These were supplied by team sponsor Dogcam and are highly recommended. I shall write a full review on the cameras in the next blog.

Rob (team rider and engineer extraordinaire of PDQ) did a fantastic job of making some nice solid mounts for the cameras to prevent any wobble. We had three bullet cameras in total, two would be used front and rear, and the final camera would be head mounted on pit crew for some different footage.

Chris Onboard the Darvill Spondon RSC Honda, Race 2 (Note the HD camera mounted within the screen)

Cameras attached and ready, I made my way up the circuit for the days free practice sessions. I was amazed at how much quicker the race bikes were this year. They seemed to fly around corners and hold tighter lines, clearly a sign of some development. During practice sessions, I don’t try for amazing shots but rather have a practice, watch the lines bikes are taking and look for interesting compositions. This leaves me much better prepared for the all important racing action.

After getting several brilliant shots of the team in action, it was time to retrieve the bullet cams, download the footage, backup my photos then relax. As night fell however, I noticed (aka not being awake and having it pointed out to me by Chris’ with Steph) a fantastic shot that could not be missed. The moon was low over the grandstand, a deep blue night sky and the team(s) work in the garages was being reflected in the pit lane glass. This is the image you see in the background, it was actually shot handheld at just 1/80^thsec, not bad eh? Day over it was time to hit the sack (floor in my case) and try and get some sleep. Sadly it was not to be due to frantic efforts by other teams to get their bikes ready. I didn’t really mind, it’s all part of the experience. And after awhile you like the feeling of being punch-drunk tired!

Chris warming up the Darvill Spondon RSC Honda (shot using two remote triggered flashguns)

The hustle and bustle at 6am on Saturday could only mean one thing; it was time for qualifying in the morning and race one in the evening. It was the same drill as the day before, get the cameras setup on the bike and head out onto the track to capture the team in action. For qualifying I decided to shoot some video at the end of the pit lane. It’s tricky shooting video on the 7D due to the lack of autofocus in video mode. I opted to focus the camera on the apex of a corner, use a nice shallow depth of field and shoot some ‘arty’ footage. It came out reasonably well, although a strong breeze made it difficult to keep things steady.  The team did a brilliant job and qualified in 14^th position (of 56), despite having some technical issues (see the teams write-up, link at top of page).

Rob in race 1 as the Sun sets. No PhotoShop trickery here, just basic levels adjustment, the light was amazing!

Race one is a two hour night race, held just before the sun starts to set and finishes late into the night. It’s my favourite part of the Bol d’Or Classic as the light during sunset can provide some fantastic photo ops. I headed straight to the 180°, an ideal position to take advantage of the setting sun.

As the light began to fade, my camera and its attached 400mm f2.8 lens were pushed to the limits. ISO was eventually pushed to 6400 and shutter speed dropped to a near impossible 1/60^th sec, just to try and overexpose the shots to bring out some detail! It was very dark, even with the trackside lights and lights of the bikes themselves trying to illuminate things. I held my nerve however, and my experience in handheld low shutter speed shooting shone through. I looked for the distinctive lights of the Darvill Spondon RSC Honda and followed the light through my viewfinder, all the while remembering the layout of the track in front of me. I’m very pleased with the results (see example of Chris below), you wouldn’t know I couldn’t see the bike itself! The team had a fantastic result, finishing in 7^th position. As the only heritage bike competing (only genuine 100% original race bike in the field) this was a true achievement.

Chris in race 1 as he races through the dark.

Day over it was back to no sleep and an early Sunday start! The morning was essentially a re-run of the day before, and then it was time for race two, which is a daytime race. During morning practice I experienced some racism of my own from a rather angry French marshal! Walking up to the centre of the track, minding my own business, this marshal knowing full well I couldn’t speak French from the day before, started speaking to me. I obviously couldn’t understand, said sorry (in my best attempt at what little French I do know) and walked on. Then the abuse started, “you f*cking stupid little Englishman!” Seeing red, but also acting in a professional manor, I gave him the finger and walked on. We never had any problem with French people in general (they were friendly), it only seemed to be those in authority that had a problem with us.

One of the teams main competitors, French team Moto Bel

For the second race I made my way back up to the middle of the track, which was very damp and greasy due to a rain shower. The team made it up to 5^th place on lap one and I was there to get some of the action. However, a couple of laps in, Chris who was riding had disappeared. Sadly the engine suffered a serious failure forcing the team to retire from the race. It was an emotional and sad ending to a great few days, but it’s called endurance racing for good reason. It pushes riders and bikes to the limit and the team gave it everything they had. Next time they will nail it, especially as they will back with a more competitive bike to match Chris and Robs talent.

With great disappointment hanging in the air, we packed up and headed home. After very little sleep (or no sleep in some cases) over the last few days, the journey home is punishing, especially as we head late into the night. The drive home was an adventure, with rainstorms, van doors opening (very close to losing my camera gear), surviving terrible driving standards through Paris and a cat and mouse run trying to keep up with the other guys. Being in Lee’s van (aka Pervert Undertaker) was the usual adventure. He does not respect authority, so getting through customs before catching the ‘Chunnel’ was an experience. My buttocks puckered in fear at the thought of being ‘examined’ in a back room!

I eventually arrived home exhausted (awake since 4pm Thursday morning) at 4am Monday morning. The remaining members of the team still had to drive north to catch a ferry to the Isle of Man! This racing lark is fun but tiring!

Steve

Rob hammers down the start/finish straight as the team looks on

The 1000 Bikes was to be the first real test of shooting fast action HD video with the Canon 7D and it certainly proved to be a challenge! I shall blog the pros and cons of the camera in video mode sport wise another time, but to put it briefly I pushed it to its limits in terms of capturing fast action and it showed. I soon discovered the camera is at its best in a controlled environment or when taking artistic shots and I hope to show this at the Classic Bol d’Or in September.  However, I managed to create a rushed promo video for Darvill Racings Spondon Honda and it has received good reviews. It can be seen in the portfolio section or on our YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/smallredgorilla .

I left home on the bike very early Saturday morning and made my way to Mallory Park, which proved to be a bit of a challenge all on its own.  With about 10kgs of camera gear, a sleeping bag and tent perched on the back of the bike, it wasn’t exactly aerodynamic! An hour or so of high speed wobbles later and I had arrived.

First job of the day was to sign-on as a press photographer then meet up with the team Darvill Racing and see what time the riders would be out on track Sunday. We also arranged to do a shoot on the start/finish line in the evening which would include some video of the Darvill Spondon and an interview with team principal Alex. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to being recorded!

As trials is a fairly slow sport (and confusing as to where the track is) with riders all over a large area, I didn’t hang around long as I needed to head off and photograph the rest of the event. First stop was to photograph the past master machines as these are impossible to photograph when the crowds pick up. While I was there I managed to get a shot of Phil Read signing autographs and a little while later a couple of Agostini.

Agostini signing autographs. Note the filthy look the minder gave me!

I’m not sure why, but every time I stick my camera above a crowd to get a more interesting shot I get told off! It was no different when taking a shot of Ago signing autographs. I stuck my camera (with flashgun) above and to the front of the crowd, looking down at Ago and fired a few shots off, the flash obviously caught some attention and his minder pretty much told me to bugger off as if I was the paparazzi. Luckily I found it funny, but surely when I had a Mallory press pass, he was posing for photographs in public and fully expects the attention, it shouldn’t be a problem? Five minutes later however, I was asked to take a picture of Kenny Roberts and two other star riders in an exclusive, result! 

The rest of the day was a case of wondering around taking various shots until the track had closed. As soon as it had we setup the Darvill Spondon RSC Honda on the start/finish straight for a few photographs and some video detailing the bike.

Darvill Spondon RSC Honda

Team owner Alex didn’t exactly enjoy talking to the camera but the results came out quite well and I aim to improve things for the Bol d’Or. I used the 70-200mm f2.8 lens (112-320mm on a 7D) for shots of the bike as it gives a really nice shallow depth of field and is still fairly sharp at a distance. As soon as the shoot had finished it was “beer o’clock” and we relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Early starts are part and parcel of the racing scene and Sunday was no different with a 6am start. I got my gear together, headed up to the hairpin and waited for the track to open. The team would be out in the first and second sessions, Lee on his Jawa followed by Rob on the Darvill Spondon.

I decided to position myself behind the barrier on the outside of the hairpin, as I could get nice sweeping shots on video of the bikes coming into and

Rob Wittey on the Darvill Spondon

leaving the bend. It also meant I had slightly different shots than the other 6+ photographers that had setup on the inside of the hairpin. I’ve been in that spot myself for the last few years and fancied a change.

As soon as I had what I needed it was time to tread the hot, sweaty and camera gear laden mile to the grass track arena. The plan was to sit in the middle of one of the bends to get nice sweeping slow-mo video of the riders. The results weren’t too bad if a little tricky,

Grasstrack, Festival 1000 Bikes 2011

and the photos came out very well. The advantage of sitting bang in the middle of the bend was that I didn’t have to worry about focusing, as the subject was always the same distance from the lens. Job done I then had to drag myself back to the hairpin.

The rest of the day was spent taking video and photos of the rest of the team’s sessions (including guest rider Alex George) and also the various past masters out on track. I managed to take some cracking photos of Sammy Miller (my favourite shot), Kenny Roberts, Agostini plus others and also some nice video of the Norton Rotaries. All videos can be seen on the YouTube page.

It turned out to be yet another great festival and hopefully I’ll be back again next year!

Steve

But should I buy a dedicated HD pro camcorder, an HDSLR or both? I mulled over that question for several months while preparing to update the business. The image quality of the new HDSLR cameras outshines professional camcorders in many instances and are much cheaper, but they have many flaws that camcorders easily address. HDSLR's have larger image sensors (except the new Panasonic AG-AF100 etc) which gives them this quality edge, with CMOS sensors being the most common and this also allows a much shallower depth of field giving the cinematic film look. The biggest downside to these CMOS sensors however is skew when moving the camera from side to side. Professional camcorders tend to use CCD chips so do not suffer this effect. Professional camcorders also have much better audio connections, better gain controls and have better handling when it comes to video. In reality, they are designed purely for video and HDSLR's are hybrids with a photography bias.

At first I decided I would be better off buying a professional camcorder and just use something like a Canon 7d for photography, I could have the best of both worlds. Then I started to think about the work I do and how physically demanding it can be. For example, carrying camera gear around a track all day can be very tiring, adding video gear on top would be a nightmare! Also, at the end of the day I'm primarily a photographer who is making a move into video production, which will make up 30-40% of my work at most. I'm also already familiar with the look, feel and layout of SLR's and having to move onto camcorders would feel like a backward step. Also on a practical level I can change from photographer to videographer at the flick of a switch.

So, I'd pretty much made up my mind, and with some further research I found that there are many gadgets and other add-ons that can get around most of the HDSLR's flaws. In the next blog I'll shall go over the equipment I bought and discuss the pros and cons.

Steve Gillions

The result is that I now have a shed load of new equipment, new ideas and new goals. As of now we can offer professional HD video production using the latest HDSLR camera technology (see blog posts for the reason why we haven't chosen dedicated video cameras) alongside the usual photography services. To give you an idea of what we are capable of, this year we will be shooting (or at least I will be) an ongoing documentary for Darvill Racing (endurance motorcycle racing www.darvillracing.co.uk ) alongside the usual photography, various music video shoots, commercial website product videos and videos for a couple of events. Our first real test of the equipment will come at the end of this month when we carry out a video and photo shoot for local band.

On a slightly different note there have been some highs and lows when it comes to Small Red Gorilla images being used. The highs have been finding our images in publications and on websites all over the world, particularly in Motorcycle USA and most recently MCN. These images rarely have a credit unfortunately, it's the downside to having to give away your image rights with some clients, but it still gives a bit of a buzz. The lows however have been several examples of copyright theft! Several images have been found on Flickr being passed off as having been taken by someone else, (I wasn't happy as you can imagine) and a few other instances of images being lifted from the press or other websites and placed on forums and personal websites. It is classed as theft and I could rightly charge those people hundreds in damages if I was so way inclined. A polite warning in is usually enough however, all they had to do was ask me for permission. If you see our images about anywhere and you think they have been lifted, please let me know.

Who's in and who's out at Small Red Gorilla? Well Emma Beckett is still lurking in the background and we will hopefully be working again in partnership later in the year. She's just had a baby boy so will be tied up with the little bundle of fun. Regular contributor James Older has now moved to Australia to be with his girlfriend, and very jealous we are too! His girlfriend is also a photographer and has her own studio, so no doubt he is still clicking away.

In other news, I've finally received my accident compensation for the bike, injury and loss of work. The bike (Kawasaki ZX9R) will be put back on the road and used for business purposes asap. I'm sure everyone is feeling the pinch with the ever higher cost of living, and the last thing our clients need is the burden of paying for our travel costs. Using the bike will shrink these costs significantly due to the fact it won't get stuck in traffic, it's fast and even though it's a 140bhp monster it will still do 70mpg+ on the motorway!

Finally, I'm always looking to expand my portfolio into as many areas as possible. Of particular interest at the moment is the muscle car scene and extreme sports. If you or anyone you know is involved in any of these scenes, and would be interested in having a photo or video shoot (free on a one off basis for one person only) then please contact me asap.

Steve Gillions

Small Red Gorilla founder Steve is available to work for other companies on a permanent, temp or contract basis. His experience in the photographic industry is wide and varied, with the ability to carry out anything from artistic direction to film processing and printing (digital and traditional) in mini or industrial photo labs. For a full list of Steve's skills, please click here to view his CV, or contact him using the contact page for more information.

Design and Inspiration

Steve has a strong background in art and has a head full of whacky and useful ideas that can be put to good use, a good example being the Small Red Gorilla name and logo. He also has various art and industry contacts that can be brought onboard for various projects where required. Steve also has fantastic visual awareness and a great imagination, making him ideal for generating ideas for everything from album art to exhibition spaces. If you feel this is something that could be useful to you, please contact us to arrange a meeting.